Mushroom Torches

Hi. My name is Nick. And this is my story.

I was walking through the Dark Forest. It seemed to me that it was unusually dark, so I decided to light a fire. It was so beautiful. The flames spread from tree to tree. Lighting them up like torches. I danced in the flames until the smoke stopped my breathing and I lost consciousness along with all hope of survival.

I awoke to find myself knee-deep in icy cold water. My burns from the fire were healing well. Across the water, I noticed a small blue object. 'Aha!' I screamed, 'A mushroom!' I ran to the creature and pulled it from the ground. It spat in my face and bit my fingers, which brought tears to my eyes. I let it drop. Suddenly, all I could see were these little blue creatures. They were about the size of my little finger and they had pointed ears and noses. I laughed and stepped on one to see what colour it's blood would be. It was pink. The rest of them jumped at me. They had terribly springy legs. I fell. And then I curled up and went to sleep.

When I managed to gain consciousness, I was in the middle of a desert. When I looked around, I saw a random sink to my left. I walked to it and turned the tap. But no water came. I was instantly overcome by thirst. I decided to walk on and see if I could find another sink, or a river, or any other source of water I could find. But I couldn't move my legs. My entire body had begun to shrivel up. I sat hopelessly on the soft ground. And then I heard running water. The tap had started working. But I couldn't reach it now. I sighed and transformed into a bird. But I had no wings. And there was now a cat heading towards me. It was purring so loudly I could hear it from five metres away. But then it stopped purring and ran at me with incredible speed. And it grabbed me in its paws and bit off my head. Kind cat. Ended my life swiftly. Most cats I have seen usually play with their prey. Keeping it alive as long as possible as they torture it for fun.

And yet, I wasn't dead yet. In fact, I was very much alive. And lying in a hospital bed surrounded by hyenas. They were laughing at me. One of them placed a hand on my shoulder and the laughing stopped. A hand. They all transformed into humans as I opened my eyes.

It was all a dream. Or was it? A small blue face stared at me through the window, and I laughed. Little Mushroom Torch... Such fun!